Bears aren't at home on Kansas range - yet

From little lizards to majestic mule deer, Melissa McKinley thought she'd seen every kind of wildlife possible in her rural southwest Kansas yard.

Then a few weeks ago, she looked to see why her dogs were barking.

"I figured it was maybe a rabbit. When I opened the door there was a bear," said McKinley, of rural Morton County. "He seemed pretty content to be there, just sitting in a wagon."

B.J. Thurman, the region's game warden for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, said he has received reports of bears the last 10 years.

Chances are more will wander into Kansas from neighboring states with expanding bear populations.

"We used to think our only population was in southeast Oklahoma," said Joe Hemphill, an Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation biologist. "Now we have a population in the northeast, and we've caught five nuisance bears in northwest Oklahoma in the last month."

In the past year or so, bears were hit by cars in Neosho, Mo. —about 20 miles as the bear rambles from southeast Kansas.

Black bear comeback

Most black bears were wiped out in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma by the early 1900s.

Arkansas reintroduced the species into some mountainous areas about 50 years ago. They've since prospered, multiplied and moved across state lines.

"We get quite a few calls from people with bears getting into their dog's food," Hemphill said, "and it seems like everybody in southeast Oklahoma dumps out some food for some kind of dog. Bears love that free food."

Bear in the yard

The bear in McKinley's yard seemed set on staying for a spell.

As well as alternating between napping and sitting in the wagon, it found a covered trash can filled with dog food.

A grain elevator next door could have provided a ready supply of food, too.

Kansas wildlife officials were called and failed to chase the young male bear away from the house.

An Oklahoma officer eventually arrived with a tranquilizer gun.

The bear was darted, fitted with an ear tag for identification and released near the Colorado border.

About a week later it was found investigating a barbecue grill at a Colorado ranch.

Brad Odle, a Wildlife and Parks law enforcement supervisor, said Colorado wildlife officials saw the ear tag, deemed the bear a repeat problem and destroyed the animal.

Odle said dealing with nuisance bears often forces biologists to make hard decisions.

"You always have to think about public safety," he said. "We don't want to release a problem bear then have it hurt somebody."

Though it rarely happens, black bears can pose a problem.

For one thing, they're big animals. Ten of the 32 bears shot in Oklahoma last year weighed more than 300 pounds; two topped 500 pounds.

They're also equipped with formidable weapons.

"Those claws are built to strip meat from bones," Odle said.

Their jaws can snap a deer's spine.

Sometimes sows with cubs or bears feeling pressured can turn on humans.

The bear in McKinley's Morton County yard snapped its teeth and made a short, bluff charge when a biologist got too close.

Odle is hoping to get tranquilizer guns scattered around western Kansas. What happens to a tranquilized bear would be decided by wildlife officials on a bear-by-bear basis.

Bears in Kansas' future?

Nobody knows how often people will deal with bears in Kansas. More bears will surely move in from other states, but will there ever be enough for a reproducing population?

Historically, they weren't common on the prairie. Hemphill said that northeast Oklahoma bears seem to avoid areas that are open or heavily populated.